Explanation? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Explanation? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
emperortom
02-19-04, 05:57 PM Sorry to sound ignorant...
My local store does not currently have Unearthed Arcana, and I was wondering a couple of things...
1. Is it worth the 51 bucks Canadian.
2. What can I expect to find in it.
3. When will it come out in Edmonton (no, I don't expect you to know that)
Thanks
emperortom
02-19-04, 06:02 PM Oh, and will there be a 'luckless' style of D&D in the book? I've always wanted something along those lines.
aldymnor
02-19-04, 06:08 PM I dont' know what luckless means. There is the bell curve rule, which is rolling 3d6 rather than 1d20 for the d20 checks but that's to represent a more mundane pattern of success vs. failure ratio.

I'd say yes it's worth whatever they're charging. I would buy this before any other book. If you like spell points alone it's worth it. If you're really satisfied with D&D right now, then I'd say at least look through a copy first. But I had a list of beefs with D&D for a long time, and this book absolves about half of that list.
Fiendish Dire Weasel
02-19-04, 06:44 PM It seems the release date for UA is supposed to be Feb 25th. It also seems like a lot of people have the book already somehow.
JoAT
02-19-04, 11:36 PM It should be in already - I picked up my copy from Card Sharks (West Edmonton Mall). - The over charged me alittle bit, but $50 Isn't bad for this book at all. If I was you, I'd head on over to White Ave, and check out Warp 1 - if you have the member ship, it'll likely only cost you $45 bucks or less, not including tax (members don't have to pay tax, though).

To echo the others, it is ineed worth just about whatever you can get it for, as long as you're willing to realize that there's no real chance that you're ever going to get to use all the rules in all their combinations. It's also pretty much a DM book - if you're a player, and you're not willing to leave it at the DM's house for a few days while he sees if there's anything worthwhile in there, then you'll probably not get much use out of it.

The book is also an 'advanced' book. Unlike most of the other 'tool' books, it's not a plug and play line - in order to make use out of it, you need to invest some serious time and effort to pull out the good stuff and put it together. But, it can be very rewarding.

I also have no clue what you mean by luckless - are we talking no dice system? Hard on characters? Grim & Gritty? All these except the first could probasbly apply to things you'd find in there, I guess.
Masterful_Norg
02-19-04, 11:52 PM By luckless he means no rolls. The way you do this is just by making everyone take ten no matter the situation. All dice dammage (ability or hp) is average, all hit dice are average and all numbering dice (such as 1d4+1 ghouls) are average. 50% miss chances cannot be done and neither can random encounters. You use the elite score set.

That should answer your question.

The other possibility is that you could have a daily pool of the points that you will substitute for the normal roles. Run out of this massive point pool and you fall unconscious and must regenerate the energy points. Physical actions take twice as many points as mental actions. To travel your movement speed costs 1 point.

The only problem is there is no way of knowing what this point number should be each character level (oviously equal for all classes), so I wouldn't use this system based on that. It gives a DM much more control of the situation, though. Perhaps Experience could be calculated by how many of these points were spent to accomplish a certain goal.
aldymnor
02-20-04, 12:37 AM Originally posted by Masterful_Norg
By luckless he means no rolls. The way you do this is just by making everyone take ten no matter the situation. All dice dammage (ability or hp) is average, all hit dice are average and all numbering dice (such as 1d4+1 ghouls) are average. 50% miss chances cannot be done and neither can random encounters. You use the elite score set.

Hold on a sec. Is this from 2e? It sounds like you are already familiar with this, in which case I should just recommend the poster to wherever you learned it. Sounds real basic though.
Masterful_Norg
02-20-04, 12:40 AM I wouldn't know if this were from 2E because I have never played that edition. I don't like this system very much, but it could work.
JoAT
02-20-04, 01:45 AM It's not from 2e, unless there were some very strange books that I've never come across - same with 1e and most of the basic set. It's a fairly easy one to come up with though, and I guess it would be useable if you had to game somewhere without any dice - it'd be basicly compareing numbers and then seeing who gets the bigger number, kinda like a few card games.

The second, however, is vaugle familiar - Not a D&D rules set, of course, but it's reminiscent of the current Marvel Universe RPG stones system - perhaps it has it's roots in Amber?
strenoth
02-20-04, 04:44 AM i'm trying to imagine luckless with DnD... so, um, my fighter either hits the orc everytime, or misses every time? no... doesn't make any sense. Sometimes people hit, sometimes they miss. unless you want to make it into some sort of super rock/sissors/paper deal for offensive moves vs defensive moves.... but that's just a different sort of luck really.
emperortom
02-24-04, 08:07 PM Sorry to take so long responding...
Yes, you're on the mark with the 'party pool' concept, except I did have a slightly different idea of each player having what I call a 'luck cycle' (It's probably in a book somewhere for some RPG). Anyway, d20 rolls are completely abolished. Instead, one has a small slip of paper with the numbers 1-20 written on it. When you want to attack/defend (-10 to AC permanently, you instead apply a Cycle number)/use a skill, you choose one of the numbers that is NOT covered and apply it as if you had rolled it. Whenever you use such a number, you put a marker over it and it can't be used until uncovered. When all the numbers on your slip are used up, you remove all the markers and start again. This abolishes luck for the most part (you could have seperate d10/d8/d6 cycles) and still involves "winning some and losing some".
The DM, however, will need to keep a CAREFUL eye out for players trying to dump their 1's and 2's on trivial checks (I use my 1 to smash the wall for no apparent reason.)
THe DM could also have such cycles, and he/she uses them to control NPC's/monsters. THe DM should use them (the numbers) strategically (because the party will be doing so too).
Advantages of the system include favouring tactics (factors become crucial as players run out of 'good numbers', and players relying on luck lose this crutch), and decreasing the chance of a trivial death (the DM should never use a number that will likely obliterate a PC [although the PC's dont know this!:smirk: ])
What do you think? Stupid? Useable? Ingenious?:confused:
emperortom
02-25-04, 05:24 PM *Ahem*
Sorry to be obnoxious...:smirk:

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
emperortom 02-19-04, 05:57 PM	Sorry to sound ignorant... My local store does not currently have Unearthed Arcana, and I was wondering a couple of things... 1. Is it worth the 51 bucks Canadian. 2. What can I expect to find in it. 3. When will it come out in Edmonton (no, I don't expect you to know that) Thanks
emperortom 02-19-04, 06:02 PM	Oh, and will there be a 'luckless' style of D&D in the book? I've always wanted something along those lines.
aldymnor 02-19-04, 06:08 PM	I dont' know what luckless means. There is the bell curve rule, which is rolling 3d6 rather than 1d20 for the d20 checks but that's to represent a more mundane pattern of success vs. failure ratio. I'd say yes it's worth whatever they're charging. I would buy this before any other book. If you like spell points alone it's worth it. If you're really satisfied with D&D right now, then I'd say at least look through a copy first. But I had a list of beefs with D&D for a long time, and this book absolves about half of that list.
Fiendish Dire Weasel 02-19-04, 06:44 PM	It seems the release date for UA is supposed to be Feb 25th. It also seems like a lot of people have the book already somehow.
JoAT 02-19-04, 11:36 PM	It should be in already - I picked up my copy from Card Sharks (West Edmonton Mall). - The over charged me alittle bit, but $50 Isn't bad for this book at all. If I was you, I'd head on over to White Ave, and check out Warp 1 - if you have the member ship, it'll likely only cost you $45 bucks or less, not including tax (members don't have to pay tax, though). To echo the others, it is ineed worth just about whatever you can get it for, as long as you're willing to realize that there's no real chance that you're ever going to get to use all the rules in all their combinations. It's also pretty much a DM book - if you're a player, and you're not willing to leave it at the DM's house for a few days while he sees if there's anything worthwhile in there, then you'll probably not get much use out of it. The book is also an 'advanced' book. Unlike most of the other 'tool' books, it's not a plug and play line - in order to make use out of it, you need to invest some serious time and effort to pull out the good stuff and put it together. But, it can be very rewarding. I also have no clue what you mean by luckless - are we talking no dice system? Hard on characters? Grim & Gritty? All these except the first could probasbly apply to things you'd find in there, I guess.
Masterful_Norg 02-19-04, 11:52 PM	By luckless he means no rolls. The way you do this is just by making everyone take ten no matter the situation. All dice dammage (ability or hp) is average, all hit dice are average and all numbering dice (such as 1d4+1 ghouls) are average. 50% miss chances cannot be done and neither can random encounters. You use the elite score set. That should answer your question. The other possibility is that you could have a daily pool of the points that you will substitute for the normal roles. Run out of this massive point pool and you fall unconscious and must regenerate the energy points. Physical actions take twice as many points as mental actions. To travel your movement speed costs 1 point. The only problem is there is no way of knowing what this point number should be each character level (oviously equal for all classes), so I wouldn't use this system based on that. It gives a DM much more control of the situation, though. Perhaps Experience could be calculated by how many of these points were spent to accomplish a certain goal.
aldymnor 02-20-04, 12:37 AM	Originally posted by Masterful_Norg By luckless he means no rolls. The way you do this is just by making everyone take ten no matter the situation. All dice dammage (ability or hp) is average, all hit dice are average and all numbering dice (such as 1d4+1 ghouls) are average. 50% miss chances cannot be done and neither can random encounters. You use the elite score set. Hold on a sec. Is this from 2e? It sounds like you are already familiar with this, in which case I should just recommend the poster to wherever you learned it. Sounds real basic though.
Masterful_Norg 02-20-04, 12:40 AM	I wouldn't know if this were from 2E because I have never played that edition. I don't like this system very much, but it could work.
JoAT 02-20-04, 01:45 AM	It's not from 2e, unless there were some very strange books that I've never come across - same with 1e and most of the basic set. It's a fairly easy one to come up with though, and I guess it would be useable if you had to game somewhere without any dice - it'd be basicly compareing numbers and then seeing who gets the bigger number, kinda like a few card games. The second, however, is vaugle familiar - Not a D&D rules set, of course, but it's reminiscent of the current Marvel Universe RPG stones system - perhaps it has it's roots in Amber?
strenoth 02-20-04, 04:44 AM	i'm trying to imagine luckless with DnD... so, um, my fighter either hits the orc everytime, or misses every time? no... doesn't make any sense. Sometimes people hit, sometimes they miss. unless you want to make it into some sort of super rock/sissors/paper deal for offensive moves vs defensive moves.... but that's just a different sort of luck really.
emperortom 02-24-04, 08:07 PM	Sorry to take so long responding... Yes, you're on the mark with the 'party pool' concept, except I did have a slightly different idea of each player having what I call a 'luck cycle' (It's probably in a book somewhere for some RPG). Anyway, d20 rolls are completely abolished. Instead, one has a small slip of paper with the numbers 1-20 written on it. When you want to attack/defend (-10 to AC permanently, you instead apply a Cycle number)/use a skill, you choose one of the numbers that is NOT covered and apply it as if you had rolled it. Whenever you use such a number, you put a marker over it and it can't be used until uncovered. When all the numbers on your slip are used up, you remove all the markers and start again. This abolishes luck for the most part (you could have seperate d10/d8/d6 cycles) and still involves "winning some and losing some". The DM, however, will need to keep a CAREFUL eye out for players trying to dump their 1's and 2's on trivial checks (I use my 1 to smash the wall for no apparent reason.) THe DM could also have such cycles, and he/she uses them to control NPC's/monsters. THe DM should use them (the numbers) strategically (because the party will be doing so too). Advantages of the system include favouring tactics (factors become crucial as players run out of 'good numbers', and players relying on luck lose this crutch), and decreasing the chance of a trivial death (the DM should never use a number that will likely obliterate a PC [although the PC's dont know this!:smirk: ]) What do you think? Stupid? Useable? Ingenious?:confused:
emperortom 02-25-04, 05:24 PM	Ahem Sorry to be obnoxious...:smirk: